Monday, October 11, 2010

Fruitcake Bouboulettes, The Slow But Satisfying Process

For everything there is a season, and now, solidly tucked into October, it is time to go to the next phase of preparation for my fruitcake bouboulettes.  Weeks ago, I chopped figs, dried apricots, candied ginger chunks, raisins, dried cherries, dates, cranberries and currants, and started soaking them in liquor.

Every few days I turned the bottom fruit to the top.  I breathe in the complex wafts of fruit, rum and brandy and think that this scent has been the same for generations and feel connected to an endless line of people before me who have done this same work in preparation for celebration.
Today I'm going to candy orange and lemon peels to add to my drunken fruit.  Once you get over the annoyance that you boil and toss the water from the cut peels three times before you start to candy, its not really a difficult process.  After they are candied and dried for about fifteen hours, I'll chop them and throw them in along with glaceed cherries I've ordered from Switzerland.  Then toasted nuts, a dark batter and a bake in the oven.  My favorite part is next- packing them in layers of cheesecloth sprinkled in brandy to allow the flavors to meld and mellow.  I'll keep the cloth damp until the bouboulettes are ready to go out the door.  At each point in the process, I 'm reminded of the ancient-ness of it all and that without the effort, the end result would lack the complex flavor that you can only get with care and the assembly of the most luxurious ingredients.  This is how we're meant to celebrate I think: giving of the best of ourselves and the land, and eating the results with consciousness and appreciation.

16 comments:

  1. You're sending me some of your drunk fruit, right?

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  2. Nana, I promise to be as conscious and appreciative as you want if you can get some of these bouboulettes to me. mmmmmmm......
    j.
    actually, fruitcake will probably keep, right? lemme know when you're ready and i'll put in an order.

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  3. Gee I wish I could eat fruitcake!

    Like John I will be ordering some, as my mom loves fruitcake, I always try to get her some, it's our tradition. So, it will be nice to include this tradition with ours.

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  4. Will these go on sale on the UPM site soon? Do tell... *g*

    BV

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  5. yes they will! I'll post a note to you all when they are ready to go

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  6. Oz- I wanted to let you know I thought the best way to tell you about guacamole was to just show you. I'll try doing a podcast for you this weekend

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  7. Oh man....am I behind the times? Podcast? What? I have all this time on my hands now, I should be on top of things. What the heck, Nana? Are we intentionally keeping the crazy dancer out of the loop?

    Yeah. That's what I thought, too.

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  9. (stunned at the thought of a Nana podcast)

    Sounds like a great way to spend time on a weekend. I look forward to it.

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  10. hey sure! No problem. You want the title, you got it! lol. I have absolutely no objection. Still want the drunk fruit though. Just the drunk fruit, you don't even have to do anything else to it. :)

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  11. Hi Nana
    Wish I could get my hands on one of your cakes they sound fantastic I'm in Australia though.

    It was great meeting you at the Vegas convention in August my friend and I were blown away by your generosity.

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  12. You need to make this announcement it's own blog post. ;)

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  13. Hi Nana,

    The fruitcake bouboulettes are just fantastic (as are the rest of them). I've just returned from Filip's today, and we had such a good time trying and enjoying them! Thank you so much!

    Love, Rikki

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